Gamespot: Civilization 6: How Much Has Changed Since Civ 5?

[Unorthodox]

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/civilization-6-how-much-has-changed-since-civ-5/1100-6440144/

Speak softly and carry a big stick, Teddy Roosevelt said. Judging by a recent game of Sid Meier's Civilization VI, he was onto something: empire building is as much about careful consideration as it is making crucial decisions, each and every chance you get.

By and large, Civ VI is a much more active game than any of its predecessors. That is, you won’t spend most of your turns just waiting for projects to complete—you’ll actively build your city districts, complete civic side quests, and plan a military strategy for cutting off key industrial points in your enemy’s territory. You’ll encounter choice after choice, dilemma after tense dilemma, in your effort to explore, expand, and improve your own empire.

“We’re not just introducing new systems,” lead designer Ed Beech says. “We’re introducing new systems that interact with one another. We’re not just building on top of the existing Civ formula—we’re changing some things from the ground up.”

After my time with the game, Beech’s proclamation isn’t inaccurate. In fact, I spent more time each turn than I ever did in Civilization V. I was learning all of Civ VI's new systems, yes, but the knowledge of how they worked only led to more questions: Will my holy site function better next to my market district, or will it siphon precious supplies from research efforts? Will my encampment aid me more at that choke point in the mountains, or should I build it farther south, where Roosevelt's American troops have attacked more than once?


Beech and his team at Firaxis want the world map to be a character in itself: something you examine, learn, and adapt to as your empire expands, or shrinks, in response. By unstacking cities from what was previously one tile, Civ VI makes you consider each construction project more carefully, lending each turn much more weight.

By completing research on astrology, I unlocked the campus district. As a hub and sanctuary for scientific minds, it buffs your civilization's progress in whatever technology you might be pursuing, which in turn affects where you go from there. This could function as somewhat of a butterfly effect, altering your approach to your army composition, diplomatic policies, and world exploration.

It's not just a question of when to build a campus in your city, but more importantly: where. The scientists in this district receive bonuses from nearby mountains, all the better to study constellations and weather patterns from. So although that tile nestled in the mountain range may look like a prime spot to dig a mine and increase building production, its long term scientific potential far outweighs anything else. Civilization VI necessitates foresight in your geographical considerations.



"What seems like a good choice at the moment, what seems like might be the best place for your next building, might not be the best place in the long run," Beech says. "Once you start to learn the game, you know how different districts will affect things down the road. It's about weighing your options as you learn more in the process."

Beech said the team also hopes this will make Civilization VI different in each playthrough. Previous series entries saw players falling into tried-and-true patterns each time they played. In the newest installment, however, the higher importance placed on the procedurally generated worlds could alter even the most habitual player's strategy: new landmarks mean different districts, which mean different technologies, which mean different cultural obsessions. These lead to new political aspirations and military engagements History's most memorable leaders were adaptable. They could speak softly, and carry a big stick.

"[Civilization VI] is about moving forward, however you can," Beech says. "We've changed things to keep people from falling into these patterns. We want it to be a different game, both in the bigger picture, and throughout each playthrough. We choices to be meaningful each and every time."

[Rusty Edge]

A series of meaningful decisions sounds like the series I knew and loved.

Nothing against Gamespot in particular, but I learned from my V experience that there's a sort of backscratching going on between places like them and game studios, in a reporter-politician kind of way. The Blogzines need access, the Studios need free publicity. If it's bad publicity, the Blogzine loses it's access, perhaps forever. Likewise, if they'd rate the game less than 85/100 on release, I'd be shocked.

So that may amount to little more than a studio researching the audience, fashioning the talking points to tell them what they want to hear and making weaknesses sound like strengths, then the Blogzines repackage the talking points, everybody reads/watches it, and the backscratchers lose their itch for a little while.

I like what I read, but I'll have to hear it from somebody who's been playing the series since III or before, and isn't a back scratcher, in order to become a believer.

[Oerdin]

It actually seems like a lot has changed and most of it makes the game further from the perfection thst was Civ 4.

[Buster's Uncle]

[shrugs] The bottom line is how it all fits together and plays - and we can't know that just from a list of features; not until enough people not-in-marketing's-pocket have played it.

[Oerdin]

I agree and will wait to see how the game works out of the box.   I just feel really burned about Civ 5 and ot seems the worst features of Civ 5 have been kept while,  yet again, MP is going to be a poorly executed after thought.

Soren designed Civ 4  from the ground up to be great for MP and at each design decision he went with the choice which made MP better,  faster,  or more fun.   The result was a game people still play well over a decade after its release.   Civ 5  was pretty much ignored with in months of release.

[Buster's Uncle]

2K is teh Devil.

1UPT isn't even how to go after casuals...

[Rusty Edge]

It actually seems like a lot has changed and most of it makes the game further from the perfection thst was Civ 4.

I wouldn't call Civ IV perfection. I think it could have benefited from hexes, and considering the marvelous mods, another official expansion. What I usually called it was "the greatest game ever invented ( including computerized games, board games, and sports )".

Regardless, Civilization IV is a masterpiece!

[Spacy]

Regardless, Civilization IV is a masterpiece!

I still liked 2 best (but then, I was able to make my own graphics for units without hurting my brain trying to learn basically a whole new profession just to play a game).

[Buster's Uncle]

II-head here, also. Never modded it though, strangely enough.  The files look easy, though, if not nearly as much different stuff as SMACX to mod...

[Unorthodox]

I come in at II, but didn't stick around long until III.  (thanks largely to a long Diablo II sojourn)

IV kind of lost me at beyond the sword, actually.  I tend to not care for late game all that much anyway, since the game is usually decided by then, and the espionage was cumbersome IMO.  Warlords was probably the peak for me.  I know it's flawed and heavily warmonger weighted, but I think they swung the pendulum just a little too builderish for my taste with BTS. 

I've never modded IV, so don't really know what's out there in that way. 

That said, the novelty of Play the World and the first multiplayer games are probably my favorite memories of Civ.  Exploits and all. 

[Rusty Edge]

By the time I had the hardware to play II, III was out.
I only played II on my sister's computer, and I didn't have time to finish the game. I enjoyed it, though.

[Nikolai]

I tried Civ2 when I was 10. Which was 1996. I had just begun learning English a month or two before, so I understood exactly nil. DIdn't catch my interest as I didn't understand anything. Then I discovered Apolyton in 1999, registered the year after. Read up on CtP, got myself SMAC, was blown away, borrowed Civ2 from a friend, got blown away, found Civ1 on the internetz, got blown away. Got Civ3, had fun, but was not blown away. Got Civ4, got blown away. And so on.